EFG London Jazz Festival 2018

Phil Robson Quartet

featuring Jed Levy

Phil Robson, internationally acclaimed, multi award winning guitarist and celebrated composer was a long-term fixture in the British & European jazz world. He is now an integral part of the New York scene, where he has been based since 2015. To the festival, Phil brings his latest US band which features the great saxophonist Jed Levy who shares the composer's role with Phil on this occasion.

"Phil Robson is one of the best guitar players in the world today. His musical ideas flow continually and with a seamless logic. His technique is flawless and is in service to his fertile imagination. One of my favourites and a source of inspiration! Don't miss an opportunity to hear this modern giant!!" Peter Bernstein

"Levy's tone is lucid...a player whose modern approach is to make every note a positive statement." Jazz Journal International

The quartet features the great American drummer Clarence Penn and fantastic British bassist Oli Hayhurst. The original music written by Phil & Jed is innovative & contemporary whilst drawing on the vast tradition of jazz, across the whole spectrum of styles. The emphasis is on strong melodies and grooves and the tunes are vehicles for improvisation, allowing each musician to bring their experience and to make them their own! This will be the very best musical melting pot and a night not to miss!

Over the years Phil Robson has led or co-led many innovative ensembles, including award-winning Partisans or his fiery Organ Trio and many US/UK bands, feat. Dave Liebman, Mark Turner (Immeasurable Code Quintet), Billy Hart (trio w/James Genus) and more. As a side man he has worked with such artists as Barbra Streisand, Kenny Wheeler, Django Bates, Maceo Parker and many, many more. His latest New York bands include a quartet feat. Donny McCaslin, Adam Nussbaum & James Genus. Regular member of Jeff Williams band featuring Duane Eubanks, John O Gallagher is also currently co-curating (with Christine Tobin) a series of themed jazz shows at the Irish Arts Center NYC called 'Tobin's Run on 51'.

Saxophonist Jed Levy has been a mainstay on the New York jazz scene for over 20 years. In addition to performing and recording as a leader, he has had long standing working relationships with such jazz luminaries as Jaki Byard, Don Patterson, Jack McDuff, Ron McClure, Chico O'Farrill, and Headhunters drummer Mike Clark. Diversity has been the key to Levy's success on the NY scene. A recent week found him moving from a concert with the Cab Calloway Orchestra to a night with Mike Clark and Charley Hunter at the Knitting Factory, to the Apollo Theater with the Temptations and the Four Tops, to Birdland with Chico O'Farill's Afro Cuban Orchestra. In his presentations as a leader, as well as in his compositions, Levy tries to incorporate these varied musical experiences. His music has been recorded by such artists as the Headhunters, Don Friedman, Eddie Henderson, and Mike Clark.

Clarence Penn is one of the busiest jazz drummers in the world, a leader of multiple bands, composer, producer and educator. Since 1991, when he arrived in New York City, Penn has placed his unique blend of mega-chops, keen intellect, and heady musicianship at the service of a staggering array of A-list artists—a chronological short-list includes Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Stanley Clarke, Steps Ahead, Makoto Ozone, Michael Brecker, Dave Douglas, Maria Schneider, Luciana Souza and Richard Galliano.

Oli Hayhurst has been one of the most in-demand bass players on the London jazz scene since graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in 2000. He is involved in a wide range of music playing with stars of jazz, classical and world. He has been featured on over 60 albums and toured extensively. In 2006 he played on Zoe Rahman's Mercury nominated album, 'Melting Pot' which also won the Best Album award in the 2006 parliamentary jazz awards. His credits include playing with such musicians as Gilad Atzmon, Jacqui Dankworth & Charlie Wood, Georgia Mancio & Alan Broadbent. He’s been of frequently paired with Gene Calderazzo, notably in the bands of Julian Siegel and Pharoah Sanders.